How to Make Realistic Hats and Big Fat Boss Snares in Ableton Live

In this video I show you inside one of my work in progress tunes and discuss how to get realistic hi hats with FXPansions BFD2 and then we work on snares. We spend most of our time on making a big fat chubby boss mojo snare (that’s the technical terminology) using Drum Racks, Camel Phat, FabFilter Pro-Q, Shaak Audio Transient Shaper, and the Vengeance Multi-band Compressor. We use Ableton Live’s Drum Racks instrument to layer up Samplers loaded 128-style. The Macro knobs are set to select samples using the Chain Selectors. Then everything is bussed together and processed in parallel, using an Audio Effect Rack with 3 chains. Beyond that, we use Ableton’s Saturator device using Analog Clip in parallel, and use the Pro-Q equalizer from FabFilter to cut low frequencies sharply and boost 200 hz to add meat and body to the snare. Then we discuss multi-band compression and limiting and how it is applied in percussion sound design.

Although the tune I’m showing you inside is glitch hop / bass music, the techniques in the tutorial video are universal and can be applied to any genre of music. Percussion sound design is such a critical skill in electronic music that, although I’ve covered it before, I’ll continue to post videos on it to show you newer techniques as I continue to learn them. As plugins and technology progress, our techniques also change. For example, a few years ago, I didn’t have access to a transient shaper like the Shaak Audio one. Now I do, and it’s playing a key role in my drums. That’s why it’s important to keep learning and evolving by sharing knowledge and watching tutorials.

If you have any techniques you’ve used to make baller drums, please go ahead and share them in the comments. I’d be stoked to hear what you do!